When Worlds Meet
by FalconHawk
Summary: AU fic. Sequel to When Worlds Collide. Three years after their first meeting, Gideon Coulsand and Ennari Mahariel are reunited. Although the circumstances surrounding their reunion are no better than they were before, the tables have been turned. And now it is Gideon who needs Ennari's help in order to survive.
1. Huntress

The air whipped past Ennari's face and through her black hair as she ran through the forest, longbow and quiver of arrows across her back. The leather armor she wore was not intended to defend herself from blades and other weapons, but rather from the stinging branches, thorns, and briars that whipped past her. Somewhere ahead of her, an elk tried to escape the oncoming huntress. Ennari would occasionally catch a glimpse of white fire from its back end, the glistening of its eye as it looked back at her, but for the most part, Ennari pursued the beast by sound. Although the elk was easily faster than its hunter, Ennari had been trained for this, it was what she was _meant_ to do. Still in full sprint, Ennari reached over her shoulder and selected an arrow, she never slowed as she notched it to her bowstring, she had no need to aim as she could only hear her prey and not see it, the small amount of moonlight filtering through the trees only let her see vague shapes around her. Ennari released her bowstring and heard the tell-tale _whoosh _of air around the arrow as it sped towards its target, then there was screeching sound of the elk as the arrow found its target. Ennari smiled, she knew that call, that was the elks dying call, the hunt would not continue for much longer.

She found the elk only a few moments later. Her arrow protruding from behind its foreleg, she'd hit in the heart. The elk lay dying, but like the noble beast that it was, it refused to give up. It snorted in fear, and made the attempt to stand and run again, but Ennari wasn't worried, she knew that the hunt was over, and that she had once more been favored as the victor. Ennari reached behind her back, where she had always kept her dagger, her dar'misu and withdrew it. She bowed her head briefly in respect to the creature, and the magnificent hunt that it had provided her, then she grabbed it's raised head by an antler and cut its throat. As soon as the elk lay dead, Ennari removed her arrow and quickly went to work skinning and cutting apart the meat. The others in her hunting party would soon catch up with her, and they would build a fire, cook, and eat their fill of the meat, then all that remained would be carried back to the clan.

The other hunters did in fact soon arrive, and the gruesome work of field cleaning the elk carcass was soon completed. As Ennari poured water from her water skin over the blade of her dar'misu, she remembered…

_She looked up into the eyes of the shemlen that had almost certainly saved her life. She found it strange that someone she had known, and had in fact been her enemy only few days previously could come to be her friend. Her lethallin. She took out her dagger from behind her back and placed it in the shemlen's hands. "That is for you," she had said, "For your kindness." She turned to leave, but before disappearing into the thick underbrush she had turned and addressed the shemlen one final time. "I will tell my people about shemlen like you."_

It had been three years since the unfortunate meeting between her and the shemlen called Gideon, and in that time she had thought about him at least a few minutes of every day. He would always be her friend, even if the shemlen himself had forgotten her.

"Ennari!" It was Teren, the newest addition to her hunting group, and still an apprentice. Most of her clan still considered him a da'len as his face was still unmarked. "Shemlen… in the forest…" He said between gasps.

Ennari grabbed her bow without even thinking about it. "Where?" She demanded, "And how many?"

Teren pointed back in the direction he'd just come from, the hunters were between the shemlen and the clan's camp. "I think… I mean I saw… three of them… but… could be more!"

"Tamlen," Ennari said, "Take half of them and circle around to the right, I'll take the others and go to the left… And this goes for all of you, do not kill the shemlen except to defend yourselves, or unless I attack them first. Let's move!"

It didn't take long for Ennari and her group to find the humans that Teren had told them about. At first Ennari only saw two of them. They were obviously soldiers, one wearing leather armor and was armed with a crossbow, the other in chainmail and with sword and shield. They were looking for something, but she didn't know what. Only a few seconds later however, She saw the third shemlen that Teren had spoken of, this one lay flat on his stomach and crawled forward in almost a slithering motion. The shemlen that was being hunted was also wearing chainmail, but Ennari could see no weapons.

The sight of seeing human soldiers almost took her back three years, when she'd been captured and tied up like a wild animal. She swallowed hard and motioned for two of her hunters to follow her as she began to creep forward. The humans remained oblivious to her approach, either they were too absorbed in their task to notice her, or as Ennari suspected, their shemlen senses were too poor to detect her.

"This is our forest." She said quietly in the language of the Elvhen. She knew they wouldn't understand her, but anyone with a brain should be able to get the message. "This is your only warning, leave this place now… while we still allow it!"

The two soldiers immediately began turning around, trying to locate the source of the foreign sounding voice. "Dalish!" One of them hissed, Ennari could of course understand him, although she doubted the humans knew that. "I told you they were going to find us! Come-on, let's get out of here. I've already shot him twice, there's no way he can survive that!"

"Have you lost your mind?" The soldier with the sword growled. "You know what the boss said, he wants all their heads on his table! You think he's really just going to settle for our word on the matter?"

Ennari didn't like the way this was going so far. Still speaking Elvhen, but putting more venom in her voice, she said, "Leave! Now!"

The soldier with the sword held his shield in front of him and began advancing towards where he'd heard her voice come from. Ennari made a short whistling sound, and on the other side of the two soldiers, Tamlen stood, aimed, and fired. The shemlen with the bow moaned softly as Tamlen's arrow pierced his heart, then died. Without waiting another moment, Ennari fired her bow as well, her own arrow taking the shemlen swordsman through the eye.

Notching another arrow, Ennari slowly began to make her way towards the third shemlen, the one who had been trying to get away. "Don't move, shemlen." She ordered, still speaking in her own language, then she grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him over. Her bow fell to the ground, and she quickly went down to her knees. "Gideon!" She whispered, looking down at his face. At first she thought he was dead, and her heart skipped a beat and she shook him, "Gideon!" She said louder, and his eyelid fluttered but remained closed. "Don't you dare die on me now!" She said, this time in Common, which confused her fellow hunters. Reverting back to her own language, she ordered her hunters, "Make a stretcher, now! We're going back to the clan, and we're taking him with us!"


	2. Stranger

Gideon moaned softly as he opened his eyes. It took him a few moments before his mind grasped the fact that he didn't know where he was. There was a roof over his head, and he was lying in a bed, but everything else was foreign to him, but mostly what he could smell and hear. All around him he could smell the natural aroma of herbs, and from the window above his bed he could smell meat being cooked over an open fire. He could hear voices as well, too quiet or too far away for him to make out what they were saying, but it sounded like they were talking in another language.

"Lethallin?"

For a moment he didn't recognize the word, and then he remembered having been called it once, three years earlier, by the same person he had come back to the Brecilian Forest to find. "Ennari?" He said as he turned his head to look. On the other side of the very small room sat the she-elf that he had met three years ago, but despite the length of time, she looked exactly the same as he remembered, the shiny black hair that touched her shoulders, the tattooed face, the leather armor, and what he remembered most of all, the penetrating emerald eyes with their piercing gaze.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as he did so and expecting pain that wasn't there. He looked down at his bare chest, and touched the two light patches of skin where he'd been shot from a crossbow. "What… happened?" He asked.

Ennari shrugged. "I don't know." Her voice was thick with the Dalish accent, and it was obvious that she was not used to speaking Common. "One of my hunters found you two nights ago, crawling through the forest and being pursued by two shemlen soldiers." Ennari leaned closer and held out her hand as if to touch his shoulder, but then she pulled her hand back. "I was hoping that you could tell me what happened."

"I mean what happened to me." He clarified. "I was shot… twice."

"Oh… that." Ennari leaned back in her seat. "Keeper Marethari… she's the leader of my clan, she healed you."

"Healed me?" He repeated with a confused look on his face. "You mean with magic."

"Of course." Ennari answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "How else?"

Gideon fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Now it's my turn." Ennari said and she stood up and moved to the foot of the bed. "Why are you here, ma lethallin? Believe me, I am happy to see you again, but the fact that you were being chased by two shemlen soldiers trying to kill you tells me that you are not here just to see me."

Ennari's accent was so thick that he was having a hard time understanding her, and it took several seconds for what she had said to register. When it did however, he couldn't stop the heavy sobs and crying from wracking his entire body. "Th-they're dead!" He choked the words out. "They're all dead! M-my family… my friends… soldiers, servants… everyone!"

Again he lost himself in his sorrow and buried his face in his hands. This time however, Ennari did place her hand on his shoulder. "It's over now, Gid. You're safe now, you're with me. It's over."

"Yes." He answered. "I am with you now, my only friend still alive… But it is not over. It will never be over for me until either I, or Nathanial Howe is dead!"

* * *

Gideon might have been healed, but he still felt very weak as he followed Ennari out of the aravel the following night. He thought the aravels looked like ships, but apparently the Dalish lived in them. They were rather small however, and Gid could not understand how they could manage to both live and raise a family in them. He didn't know how many Dalish lived in the clan, but he had the impression that most of them except the children had gathered around a large bonfire. He suddenly stopped walking and looked with suspicion at his lethallan.

"What is going on?" He asked.

Ennari looked behind herself at him. "Ma abelas." She said in a low voice, "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you this, but Keeper Marethari has called a meeting of the clan."

"Why? What is this about?" He asked, even though he already had pretty good idea.

"It's about… you, lethallin."

"Do I really want to know what they're going to be discussing?"

Ennari sighed and pulled her human friend out of the open and behind the aravel where they couldn't been seen or heard by the elves around the fire. "Ma abelas, Gideon… I should have told you this sooner, but when I brought you back to the clan, the Keeper agreed to heal you, but nothing else. Now that you are healed and no longer at the mercy of Falon'Din brother of Dirthamen, there are many in the clan who wish to send you way."

There was nothing he could say. He had already been forced to flee his home, lost his entire family, and was now with the only person that he knew he could still trust, and that was not caught up in the civil war that was tearing Ferelden apart. Ennari must have read the look on his face as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Do not worry ma lethallin." Ennari said, "Three years ago, you saved my life, and more! And I told you then that I repay kindness with kindness. I do not understand your world, but I know that to send you away would be much the same as killing you ourselves. I will not allow it, Gid!"

Gideon nodded. "Thank you, Ennari. I… I don't know what else to say."

Ennari tried to smile in a reassuring way. "Actually it might be better if you don't say anything…" Ennari grinned, "The Elvhen do not like your kind, as you well know. Let me talk for you, it will give the clan less reason to hate you." She took a few steps back and said, "Are you ready?"

"I don't think I have much of choice." He said, trying to smile as he did so.

"Do not worry." Ennari said again. "I am here for you." Then she turned and led the way to the bonfire.

As the unlikely pair approached the campfire, an older Dalish woman, whom Gideon assumed to be Keeper Marethari began pacing back and forth in front of the fire. The older woman stopped pacing and fixed Gideon with an icy stare. "And so for the first time in the history of the clan, we have a shemlen in the midst of our camp!" Like Ennari, she spoke with a thick accent. "How has this happened?"

"You know how this has happened!" Ennari immediately answered. "I have told you Keeper… I have told all of you! Gideon's home was invaded, and he was forced to flee!"

Another of the elves, this one and older man with a weathered face and hair turned white walked forward. "So he claims! Every elf here can speak for the lies of the shemlen that have plagued the Elvhen since our first meeting!"

Ennari leaned closer to Gid and whispered, "That is Hahren Paivel, Marethari's second in command of the clan, and the clan's story-teller." Then Ennari took a step closer to the elder and said, "And how many shemlen have you actually met, Hahren? Can't you even consider that he has told the truth? Do not forget that it was the shemlen Andraste who freed the Elvhen."

"The actions of one person is not enough to redeem their wretched race of what they have done to us!" Paivel nearly yelled angrily.

Another man stood and stepped closer to Paivel, Marethari, and Ennari. He didn't look quite as old as Paivel, and had a more gentle looking face, his long grey hair fell down his back in a long braid. "Paivel, Ennari… please." He said. "This is not a discussion of the history between our two races. We are here to decide what to do with the shemlen, Gideon."

"Master Ilen." Ennari whispered to her friend. "He's our lead craftsman, a good man."

"Yes." Marethari answered. "Tell us, why are you here shemlen?" She looked to Ennari. "And do not answer for him, da'len, we would hear this from his own lips."

"I…" He said, and glanced at Ennari, the young huntress's eyes widened. They both knew that there was nothing she could say now. "I… just want to survive."

Marethari nodded silently, brushing hair behind her ear as she considered what she would say next. "A simple enough desire." She answered, "But the shemlen are as numerous as rats, and Ennari only brought you to our camp to be healed, and we have healed you. Now you must leave. Tomorrow our hunters will bring you to the border of our forest, and ensure you reach the nearest shemlen village."

Gideon swallowed, and despite Ennari motioning for him not to speak, he said, "Then you might as well just kill me now, Keeper. I would rather die from the hands of strangers than give the murderers of my family the satisfaction of killing me."

Ennari's eyes widened, and for a moment, she was afraid that the Keeper really would call for his death, and from the look on Paivel's face and the faces of several others, they thought the idea was a good one as well.

"No." Marethari answered. "We will not kill you, shemlen. Unlike your kind, we are not murderers and butchers. But what you do with your life is your own. Tomorrow you will leave."

Ennari took several steps away from her friend and closer to the Keeper. "Then you had better exile me from the clan as well!" That earned several gasps of surprise from around the bonfire. "This shemlen saved my life! Without him, I would certainly never have been able to come back three years ago! He is lethallin to me, and he is a good man, despite whatever blood might flow in his veins! You heard him yourself! To force him to leave is to ensure his death, which will be the same as murder! I cannot stand by your decision. I invoke the Rite of Bloodkin to make him a part of the Sabrae Clan!"

If her first outburst had surprised the others, they were completely stunned now. In the silence that followed, Gid moved closer to Ennari. "What did you just do?" He asked in a whispered voice.

Ennari whispered back. "I do not know what your shemlen word for it is, but the Rite of Bloodkin allows any member of the clan to bring one who is not part of the clan into it… but… they must be claimed by a number of clan members."

Keeper Marethari was the first to recover from the shock. "I cannot deny anyone the Rite." She said. "But in accordance with the Rite, he must be claimed by at least five members of the clan." The Keeper looked at the gathered Dalish. "I will not claim him."

"I will speak for him." One of the elves called out from where he sat. Gideon briefly studied him. He was the only elf present who did not have a tattooed face, and sat with a staff resting against his shoulder. He guessed the elf was about his own age. "I lived with the humans for most of my life, and while I don't hold them in any high regard, I know that they are not an evil race. And while I do not know him, his actions in saving Ennari speak for him."

Some of the elves nodded in agreement with his statement, but Paivel immediately said. "You cannot claim him, Surana, as you yourself are not a part of the clan."

The elf, Surana, nodded. An odd smile playing across his lips. "Very well, honored elder. When Gideon leaves tomorrow, and Ennari sends herself into exile, I will accompany them. The Sabrae will no longer benefit from my magic!"

A murmur floated through the crowd before Paivel said, "I remove my objection."

"I will claim him as well." Tamlen said. Gideon was unconscious when the hunters had brought him to the camp, but he remembered Tamlen as the elf he had fought three years ago. "Ennari is my dearest lethallan. I hate shemlen as much as the next Elvhen… but without him, Ennari would be lost to us forever!"

Ennari looked at her follow hunter and friend and nodded appreciatively.

Master Ilen was the next to speak. "I speak for him, Keeper. To hate him for the actions that were committed by his race and not himself is madness. And I believe that we could learn as much from him as he could learn from us."

Four elves had spoken. But as Ennari and Marethari looked around the bonfire, there was no fifth elf to speak up. Ennari's face fell, and Gideon could tell that the outcome of the Rite had cut Ennari deeply, and hurt her far worse than it had himself.

"I am sorry, da'len." Marethari said, "But in this, the will of the People is clear. If you choose to leave with him tomorrow, then that is your choice. And yours as well, Surana."

Next to Gid, Ennari flared, "Do not call me da'len! I am not da'len! I am a huntress, I am-"

"Wait…" Another voice called out, and everyone turned to look a red-haired elf woman.

"Maren." Ennari whispered to Gideon again. "The clan's halla keeper, and she is a good friend."

Maren said, "I cannot speak for the shemlen, as all I know of him is what Ennari told me, but I know Ennari, and I trust her. I will be the fifth to speak for him."

Marethari nodded and was silent for a moment before saying. "Very well. The Rite of Bloodkin is passed. Ennari, since it was you who began the Rite, and you who is so adamant about him staying, it will be you who teaches him to become a Sabrae, and you will begin tomorrow." The Keeper closed the distance between herself and the two friends and removed a dagger from her robes. "Hold out your hands, both of you."

Ennari immediately held out her right hand, palm up. Gideon was more reluctant, and his eyes followed the dagger as Marethari drew the blade first across his own palm, then Ennari's. He winced and Ennari growled quietly through her teeth, then she took his cut hand in her own, palm to palm and interlocked their fingers, allowing the blood to mingle. Ennari said, "You're one of us now, ma lethallin. The blood of Arlathan now flows in your veins!"


	3. Different Worlds

As she led him back to the aravel, Ennari looked back over her should at Gideon. He looked confused. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm… not sure." Gideon answered. "Please… don't take me for being ungrateful, because I am thankful for what you've done. You've saved my life twice now. But, I'm not sure what to make of what just happened. What does it mean? I know that you made me part of the clan… But… what does that really mean?"

"It means that you will be safe here." She answered. "And that no one can force you to leave. You're part of the clan now, and you have a home with us for as long as you want, and we will protect you."

"Does it mean that I have to stay here?"

"No…" She said, and now she was the one who was confused. Why would Gideon want to stay with the clan so badly if he only planned on leaving? "Why? Do want to go?"

"No." Gid answered. "Not until I am ready. My family is dead, and there is someone who has to pay for that."

As she pushed the door to the aravel open, she turned and said, "I think it's time you tell me the story about that. I didn't pry into it before, but after what has happened here tonight, I think that I deserve to know."

"Yes, you do." Gideon answered and they entered the aravel. Ennari took her seat across the tiny room from the bed, and waited for him to sit and begin his story. "Ferelden fell into civil war not long after we parted ways last time. Teryn Loghain, the man that my father had been going to see, killed the king in cold blood with his own hands. Soon afterward, Ferelden divided, half behind Loghain who is styling himself as king, and half behind my father, who led the fight to depose the usurper and put a ruler on the throne chosen by the nobles.

"Throughout the war, our strongest ally was Arl Rendon Howe, an old friend of my father's from the war with Orlais. Just before I came back to your forest, Rendon and his son, Nathanial were at my home, Castle Cousland, with their own army. I was just preparing to go to bed when I heard the sounds of battle." Gideon stopped in his story as tears began to well-up in his eyes again, and he forced himself to steady. "We… couldn't figure out what was happening until Howe's forces had already murdered half my people."

He stopped again and ran his hands back through his hair. "I fought my way to where my father was, just in time to see him drive his sword through Rendon's treacherous heart! I fought alongside my father, killing the last of the Howe soldiers in the room with them, but just as the last one died, Rendon's son, Nathanial appeared in the doorway with his bow and shot my father through the throat.

"I should have gone after him!" Gideon growled, "I should have killed the bastard! But I… I… couldn't! I stayed with my father, even though he was already gone, and then I ran away!"

Ennari could put the rest together herself from what she'd heard from the two soldiers in the forest when she'd found Gid, and what Gid had just told her himself. "And so you came here to recover and to hide away from Nathanial and your other enemies, and once enough time has passed and you have passed from their memories."

"Yes." Gideon answered, and then he winced, and the look on Ennari's face confirmed that she was feeling what he was afraid of. "Ennari…" He said, "I know that… that it might seem selfish… and that I am only using you… but I assure you, it's not like that! I never lied about-" He stopped when he saw Ennari holding up a hand to silence him.

"It's alright." She said. "I understand how you feel." Ennari stood up from her seat. "If another of the Dalish clans had come to mine under a flag of friendship then attacked us, I would do much the same thing that you are now." She sighed, "But you should have told me from the beginning."

"I know." Gid nodded. "And I would have. But in my defense, I have not had much time to tell you, and I have not recovered from it myself."

"You have no need to defend yourself, lethallin… I understand." She started to leave the aravel.

"Hey, wait." Gid called after her, and Ennari stopped. "I never said thank you for all this… Thank you Ennari, I'll never be able to repay you for what you've done for me now. Ma serannas… ma serannas!"

She flashed the same smile that she had when they parted ways three years ago. "I don't want you to repay me, lethallin. I just want your friendship." She turned to leave again, but stopped again just short of opening the door. "Gid…" She asked as she turned to look at him again, "Did… did you think about me over the last three years?"

Gideon nodded. "Yes. I thought about you a lot right after it happened… then less and less as time passed. But you were never far from my thoughts, you were there at the very least a few minutes of every day."

Her smiled lessened, but she didn't look any less happy, and now she seemed somehow relieved. "It was the same for me." She replied, "And… it might seem cruel to say this now… but I'm happy to be with you again."

Gideon stood up as well. "The circumstances weren't much better the first time we met. Only now the table has been reversed, and I am the one at your mercy."

The room inside the aravel was so small that it only took Ennari two steps until she was in front of Gid again. Their eyes met for a few seconds before their lips came together, and they let the moment last for a few seconds, and then they both pulled away from each other.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Don't be." Gid answered. "But I know it was…"

"I know." Ennari said, and then she was gone.

* * *

The next few months were hard on both Ennari and Gideon. As lead hunter for the Sabrae Clan, Ennari was still responsible for leading her fellow hunters, or organizing her hunters into smaller parties and designating the area of forest they were to cover. It was a busy job, and in addition to all that, Ennari also had to teach her Bloodkin how to speak the Elven language, archery, hunting and tracking, Dalish traditions and customs, and answer the hundreds of questions that he had about each of the topics. And most frustrating for Ennari was breaking up the constant confrontations between Gideon and numerous Sabrae elves. Ennari wasn't sure if she should have been happy that wasn't Gid who was starting the constant headaches, or if she should have been ashamed that it was her fellow elves who were always picking fights with Gideon.

At first, the only two elves aside from herself who readily welcomed Gideon into the clan were Master Ilen and Daegren, better known by his family name, Surana, because it was a more elvish sounding name. Ilen treated Gid in more or less the same way that he treated the rest of the clan members of that age, telling his own brief stories as he made equipment to help Gid in his daily life.

As for Surana, if he had been born into a Dalish clan, then he would possibly be a Keeper, and if not, then he would certainly be a First. But in the words of Surana himself, he'd had the bad luck to be born a mage in the shemlen world, and had been dragged off to some place called the Circle of Magi. Ennari had talked to him several times about his life before running away and finding the Dalish, and had likened it to being something between a performing animal and a slave. The Sabrae had welcomed Surana with open arms, even more so because of his magical gifts, and while he seemed happy enough to be with the Dalish, Ennari had the distinct impression that always felt more like a guest than an actual part of the clan.

As the months passed Gideon's skills only improved. The Dalish were natural archers, but generally poor swordsman, which gave him an advantage over the other hunters. Teaching him how to use a bow properly was a bit more difficult. Gid had also hunted before, although if what he did was called hunting, then Ennari was surprised that shemlen had managed to successfully hunt _anything_! He made so much noise, and was so much bigger and more clumsy than the elves, that more than once she lost her temper and started yelling at him that he was completely hopeless, none the less, Gideon eventually improved enough so that Ennari allowed him to accompany the clan hunters on their own hunts.

One of the things that Endrin found particularly surprising was how quickly the halla took to Gideon, reacting to his emotions and even seeming to sympathize with him, even most of the Dalish lacked the strong bond with the creatures that Gideon seemed to have. As Maren saw how quickly the halla received him, she soon followed suit and opened up to him.

"You're ready." Ennari said in her native language as she finished cleaning their assortment of skinning tools in the water of a stream.

Gideon had just finished cutting up the meat from the deer they had just killed and wrapped it up in cloth. "For what?" He asked in badly accented elven.

"The trial." She answered, and Gid only raised his eyebrows in response. "Everyone has to go through the trail, regardless of what their task to the clan is. As hunters, we have to venture into the forest alone with a weapon of our own choosing, and you must bring back the pelt of a beast that you have slain."

"Any animal?" He asked, and Ennari nodded.

"Almost any animal." She laughed lightly, "A rabbit or squirrel pelt will not suffice. Most hunters will go after a deer, or wolf, or wild ox."

"I've already hunted all those things." Gideon said.

"Your elvish is improving very well, lethallin. And yes you have, but you've never hunted alone." Ennari began packing their gear in her light pack. "Admittedly, deer are easy if you can be quiet, wolves are harder as they too are predators and are hardly ever alone, and wild ox while relatively slow are incredibly powerful, and bringing them down without being trampled or gored to death is hard enough."

"What did you hunt for your trial."

Ennari chuckled again, "A sabertooth cat."

Gideon's jaw dropped. "You… hunted a sabertooth… alone?!"

"Yes." Ennari laughed harder, "That is why when our clan's former lead hunter resigned to become one of the Hahren, I was chosen to succeed him." She couldn't help but to brag a little. "And I was only seventeen years old at the time."

He stared at her, but he managed to keep his mouth closed this time. "Only a year after we first met."

She nodded and smiled happily. "Gideon." She said, "I know that… while you've been content enough with the clan, you have never truly been happy here. Don't worry, I know that this isn't your world, and that in time you will returning to your own. But… when that time comes… I will miss you… very much."

"Oh…" he said absently, still speaking in elvish. "Yes, I actually hadn't thought much about that for a while. Strange." He tied down the packed meat to a frame, ready to hoist it onto his back and carry it back to the camp. "Yes I… I suppose I will be leaving when the time is right."

"When will that be?" Ennari asked, and Gideon thought he might have detected a note of hopefulness in her voice.

"I don't know." He said. "Probably not for another six months at least. For all I know, the Howes and their allied traitors are still looking for me. I have to wait until they truly believe that the name of Cousland is gone forever." Gid reached down to hoist the load onto his back.

"And when that happens, when you leave, will you come back?"

Gid set the frame and its load back down. "It's hard to think that far ahead." He answered. "But are you asking if I will come back for the clan? Or if I will come back for you?"

Ennari laughed, but this time she laughed nervously. Then she stopped laughing and was silent for a moment. "For me." She said seriously.

Just as seriously, he answered, "Yes. I will. For the last six months… ever since I woke up in your aravel and saw you again, my feelings for you have been… changing. You're more than a friend to me now, and the more time we spend together, the more I realize that I don't want to be away from you at all, and that I'm falling in love with you."

Ennari came closer to Gideon. "So I'm not alone in my feelings for you." She said and she closed the last of the distance separating herself from him, and Gideon gathered her up in his arms, bringer his lips to hers, and feeling her body pressed against his own. It felt so good, and so natural, that he didn't want it to end.

Ennari herself couldn't help but to whimper as she felt Gideon move his kisses to her neck. All her life, Ennari had been a dedicated huntress of the Sabrae, and an orphan at that. She had never allowed herself to feel loved, had never given herself the time for a loving relationship, and the closest person that she had to family was Ilen, for the stories he told her and the small trinkets and other gifts that he made for her. And now there was Gideon, a shemlen, a person would always be a stranger to her people, no matter what trials and tests he passed. And Ennari found that she didn't care about any of that. She only wanted to stay with this shemlen, Gideon.

As the two of them separated, Ennari once more looked up into his eyes. "Stay here." She said, "Just stay with the clan, with me! We are both from different worlds, but you could my world your own!" When Gideon didn't answer, she took his face in her hands and kissed him again. "Just stay here with me, Gideon… please!"

"I… I will…" Gideon backed up a few paces, "I will have to think about it, Ennari. And… we have time. I'm not going anywhere for a long while.

Ennari nodded, and as she did so she saw a patch of ferns at the bottom of a large tree move, followed the soft padding sound of footsteps on the forest floor. Being the skilled huntress that she was, Ennari could tell the difference between the timing of something with two legs, and something with four legs as it ran, and this had two legs. "I think one of my hunters just found us." Ennari said quietly.


	4. The Exiles

Ennari opened her eyes to the sound of someone pounding on the door of her aravel so vigorously that one could think they were trying to break it down. She tried to roll out of bed, but having been roused from such a heavy slumber, her coordination was off and she plopped, ungracefully, to the floor. The pounding on the door in the meantime continued without pause. "Alright!" Ennari yelled, "Alright, I'm coming!" The pounding did not let up however until a very irritated Ennari with bloodshot eyes opened the door, she only opened it enough to poke her head through. She had been expecting to find one of her hunters, or the Keeper, or even Paivel to be there with some 'pressing matter' for her to deal with, however, there was only Surana, dressed in the same robes that he came from the Circle of Magi in, and it turned out he'd been pounding on her door with the head of his staff.

"What!?" Ennari yelled, and Surana didn't answer, instead he only tried to push the door open, Ennari slammed her body against the door to keep that from happening. "No, you stay out!" She hissed, "What is it?"

"It's about Gideon." Surana answered.

"What about him?" Ennari asked, still thoroughly annoyed at having been woken up before the sun had risen. "He left for his trial a few hours ago, didn't he?"

"That's part of the problem!" Surana said, trying to keep his voice from rising too much. "He's in danger! I can't say more about it in the open like this. Get some clothes on and come meet me at Master Ilen's aravel as soon as you can!"

Ennari was dressed two minutes later, and was at Ilen's aravel a minute after that. "What is it!" She demanded without preamble. "How is Gid in danger."

Ilen sat at the end of his workman's table and looked up at Surana, nodding for him to tell her. Surana proved to be as blunt and to the point as Ennari. "We don't have much time, so you'll just have to believe me when I say this, but shortly after Gideon left for his trial, five of your hunters went after them… I really hate to have to be the one who tells you this, Ennari, but they're going to kill him!"

"What?!" Ennari said in disbelief. "How do you know that?! HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"

"_Ssshhhhhh!_" Surana hissed, "Do you want the entire clan to know that you know?"

"What? Are they all in on it too?" Ennari demanded.

Surana shook his head in annoyance. "For all we know, yes! Look… like I said, we don't have time to discuss this. Early this morning, just after Gideon left for his trial, I heard your hunters talking about how they intended to hunt him down and kill him. Ennari… I know you know this, although you might not have let yourself see it, but most of the clan is not happy about the your decision to make him part of the clan, and if he passes his trial, then he is irrevocably a Sabrae, they will not allow a human to do that!"

"Then we have to tell the Keeper!" Ennari said quickly. "Gid is already part of the clan, and it is her duty to defend the clan!"

"No!" This time it was Ilen who spoke.

Ennari fumed, "And why not?!"

Ilen said, "Because it was Marethari's idea from the start!"

Ennari's jaw dropped in disbelief. "How can you be sure, how do you know?"

Surana spoke again, "We don't exactly, but I do know that the hunters were ordered to do it my Hahren Paivel, and we all know that he won't do anything without the Keeper's approval."

Ennari didn't have to think long before she said, "Then I'm going after him!"

"That's what we wanted!" Surana quickly said, "And I'm coming with you, two on five are better odds, and you'll be needing my magic. Your hunters might resist your orders, and they're definitely good, but I don't think they'll be so eager to face off against at trained mage."

"I have no arguments." Ennari said after a second and a half of consideration. "Let me get my hunting leathers and bow."

Ilen stood up. "No." He said, I've made new ones for you, ironbark scale and leather armor… And a new bow for you." He reached under the table and came back up with a bow that almost as tall as Ennari herself. Ennari could see the elvish writing and even more ancient runic language that ran up and down the length of the bow. "Take care of it." He said, "I call this bow, Sorrows of Arlathan, and I believe it is my finest work."

* * *

"Which five?" Ennari asked as she scanned the forest floor in the early morning light, following the trial left by Gideon and his five pursuers.

"What?" Surana asked.

"Which five hunters?"

Surana thought for moment before answering. "Teren, Kel, Zaed, Sarroth… and Tamlen."

Ennari stopped in her tracking and stood to stare at Surana, hoping that what he said wasn't true, but as she looked him in the eyes, she saw that he was telling the truth. "Tamlen and Teren will listen to me." Ennari said definitively, "The other three will follow suit."

"I hope you're right." Surana answered. "But I am prepared for the worst even if they don't."

It didn't take long before Ennari was able to fall into the rhythm of the trail that Gideon and the five hunters were leaving. It was a talent that Ennari had always possessed, and made her an even more effective hunter. After tracking her quarry for a time, it was as if she could get inside their mind and track them solely on intuition without even looking at the ground. As the huntress and mage neared a stream that ran through the forest, they both could hear the sounds of warcries, screams of pain, and insults, both in Elven and Common. As they cleared the last of the trees, the two found what they were looking for.

Gideon was on one side of the steam, and had so far managed to keep the five hunters on the other side. Sarroth, one of Ennari's oldest hunters already lay dead on the banks of the stream with an arrow through his throat, and Kel had taken shelter behind a tree, from the look of things, he'd taken an arrow through the shoulder, but had already pulled it out. The other three remained unharmed. Then Gideon jumped from behind a tree to a large rock formation that would provide him with better cover from the hunter's arrows, and give more opportunities to fire back. Ennari saw that he already had half an arrow broken off and sticking out of his abdomen through the Dalish hunting leathers he wore.

"Stop!" Ennari ordered as she notched an arrow, but kept the bowstring slack. "What in Elgar'nan's name do you think you're doing? Attacking your follow hunter?"

Four sets of elven eyes flew to Ennari. Zaed glanced at Tamlen, and Tamlen shook his head. "No Zaed." He said quietly, "I don't care what happens here today, but we will not hurt her."

"Tamlen…" Ennari said, "Tell me you didn't betray me! Tell me that I am wrong!"

The blonde elf nodded. "I never betrayed you, lethallan. And you are wrong." He sighed and shook his head sadly. "Ennari… you're the one who betrayed us."

"How can you say that?!" She demanded. "What have I ever done to betray you? I have dedicated my life to the clan! Everything I have ever done was for the good of the clan! I am the last Elvhen who would betray it!"

Tamlen sighed sadly and shook his head. "Ennari… lethallan… I saw you. I saw you… with him. And I heard you. I know that you love him, and that you think he loves you. He doesn't, my friend. You forget… despite the Rite of Bloodkin, he is still a shemlen, and he will always be a shemlen. You know our history as well as I do! You know what his kind have done to ours! You betrayed the clan by bringing him into it, but we all looked the other way because of what he had done for you in the past. And then you betrayed our people by falling in love with him!" Tamlen came several steps closer, even though in so doing he exposed himself to more arrows from Gideon.

"We don't hate you, Ennari." Tamlen continued, "I can speak for all of us when I say that. You're still the lead hunter, and we all look up to you. But… We have to correct the mistake that you've made. We have to kill the shemlen."

"Is that really what you think?" Ennari said, doing her best to keep from shouting. "Or is that just what Marethari and Paivel ordered you to do?"

Even from where he stood, Ennari could still see Tamlen swallow. "It's what _we_ have chosen!" He said. "Can't you see Ennari?" This isn't just what's best for the clan, it's what's best for our entire race! The shemlen are parasites, they destroy everything they touch! Why can't you see that!"

Now Ennari pulled her bowstring back, aiming the silverite tipped arrow at Tamlen's chest. "Since before I was even an adult, I gave all that was in me to the People!" Endrin shouted. "Gideon is no danger to us, what has he ever done to you, or to our race? He is a good man, and what you have done here today only shows that he is a better man than you! Go back to the clan, all of you! Gideon will leave… you will never see him again, you have my promise on that."

Tamlen's eyes were now locked on the silverite arrowhead aimed at his chest, they stayed on the arrow when he said, "Would you really shoot your best hunter and friend? Has the shemlen really-"

Ennari dropped her aim slightly and fired, the arrow sailed through the air and easily cut through the flesh of his thigh, stopping only after the arrowhead had exited the back of his leg. Ennari lunged behind a tree along with Surana, just as an arrow from Zaed's bow zinged past them.

"Surana!" Ennari yelled.

Surana started quietly muttering a spell, with every word, his voice grew in volume, and as he finished the spell, he was fully shouting. Tree roots exploded from the ground and wrapped themselves around the four hunters, pulling them to ground and holding them so tightly that any movement was impossible, Surana allowed the roots to give them enough space to breath, but nothing more.

Without even looking at the elves who had once been her clan and kin, Ennari walked past them all and waded across the creek towards Gideon, Surana close behind. Gideon as sitting with his back against one of the rocks, his hand around the broken arrow in his abdomen. "Why did you do that?" He said quietly. "They… they were your people. You don't… don't owe me anything, and after this… you can… never go back."

"I know." Ennari said just as quietly as she knelt by the shemlen she had come to love. "I knew there would be no going back for me before I even left the clan. But… after this betrayal… I don't want to be part of them anymore." Ennari held him around the back of his neck and kissed him gently. "It looks like your time go to back to your own people has come… And it seems that I have no choice now but to join you." She turned to look at Surana, "Can you heal him?"

The elven mage nodded. "Yes, if one of you would be good enough to take the arrow out."

Before Ennari could even get her hand around the shaft of the arrow, Gideon had already torn it from his own body, screaming in agony as he did so. Blue-white healing magic exploded for Surana's hands, healing and closing the wound.

"Where will you go?" Ennari asked as Gideon stood up again.

"To South Reach." He answered. "Home of Arl Leonas Bryland, he was second to my father before the Howes treachery, and I doubt that he would be part of any conspiracy against the king or my father."

Ennari nodded. "I've never even heard of this Arl Leonas Bryland, or South Reach, but I will follow you… I trust you Gid."

Gideon nodded wordlessly as he swept Ennari up in a fierce embrace, holding her for several moments before finally letting her go. "Ma serannas." He answered, then looked to the mage. "Will you come with us, Surana?"

The mage nodded. "Don't see as I have much choice in the matter. I just hope this Arl Bryland has need of an apostate mage for his civil war. I'd rather not be handed back over to the Circle."

"I'll see to it that he doesn't." Gideon said, laying a hand on Surana's shoulder and smiling. "Thank you Surana.

Surana just shrugged. "Let's just get moving." He said, "We probably don't have long before more hunters come after us, and Marethari will probably be with them."


End file.
